Visiting the Lala Land Singapore: Universal Studios Mania

Day two is Universal Studios Mania. I’ve never been to one and I’ve heard amazing stories about it, so I was pretty excited. They had amazing rides and not that kid-friendly so it was really different from Disney or Legoland. I was also looking forward to the whole Egypt look in The Mummy. Egypt is actually on my bucket list, placing third on the list of countries I want to see. I’ve also seen photos of my friends and those were believable enough. Once, I even thought they were able to go to Egypt. This day in USS was so fun I didn’t even feel all that tired. I hope I could see Universal Studios in Japan soon. I heard they got Hogwarts there!

After the whole day tiring activity in Legoland, we decided to wake up late. We went to Universal Studios at around ten in the morning. I even saw my friends who also went to Singapore at the Vivo train station. Of all places, in the train station! They were gonna visit the Botanic Gardens and the Marina Bay so we were able to quickly catch up at Vivo City.

Not sure if everyone knows, but Singapore has this unlimited train pass card that you can buy for almost 30SGD and it’s valid for three days. You can get the card in the train stations, they have that separate booth there for tourists. It opens around 9AM and you just need to show your passport. When your trip is over, you can hand the card back to the last station you’ll get off to (usually the airport) and you can get a 10SGD refund. Not bad, right?

I told my airplane seatmate about the card and he was surprised that such a card exists given that he always stays in Singapore.

The Sentosa cable car costs 29SGD for adults and 18SGD for kids. Kids 3 years old and below are free!

If you find the cable cars a little expensive, there’s a bridge below connecting the city to Sentosa Island. You can walk from there, it would take you around thirty minutes or so, but if you are with wonderful people and if the sun isn’t too high, thirty minutes is such a short walk. Right?

Anyway, off we went to Sentosa via the cable car – yes, this family has a thing with cable cars. If cable cars are for sale and can be used for transportation, they will be on the front line! You can walk from the Vivo City train station to the Sentosa Cable Car point. It was quite a walk and it was a little difficult to find but you’ll be fine.

The kids really loved the Madagascar boat ride. Yes, the whole I love to move it move it thing. We rode the boat three more times and everytime we do, the youngest one, Pau, couldn’t still get enough. His eyes were dancing and it seemed like he could stare at it all day and listen to I love to move it move it song.

We were able to convince him to move on to other rides because of Transformer. He loves Transformers! He’s such a die-hard fan of Bumblebee and the Transformer ride was just a bomb! We started lining up at 11 AM and I think the waiting time was two hours? It was such a long line and everytime we turn around the corner they would say, “Finally!”, but not really. It was a little annoying but when we finally got into the ride, it was definitely worth the wait! We were screaming our lungs out, everything looked so real. I didn’t even realize it was a roller coaster. After the ride, I knew in my heart that every ride I would have in the future will be compared to the USS Transformers.

The Mummy ride was also amazing. The two kids cried the whole time. The twist and the suspense was amazing and it was really fast. I was screaming and laughing at the same time. I only hoped I researched it before so I’d know what to expect. But it was the surprises that thrilled me more.

We had lunch at the food center “hawker” just outside the entrance of Universal Studios. I haven’t had any decent eating since the first day due to tiredness so we just go for whatever we can eat, eat. But I was able to really eat a good lunch during my USS visit. I lined up in this stall where everyone lined up – #touristproblems. Their serving was a huge pot and for only 4SGD. Not bad, not bad. I ate to my heart’s content. The family wasn’t allowed to eat pork, so mostly they stick to chicken satay and chicken hainanese. But I had enough of those so I went for that pork ribs clay pot. No picture though, I was REALLY hungry.

I just noticed two things in hawkers in Singapore – one, they don’t sell both food and drinks in one stall. Two, they don’t have fridge! They use ice to cool the drinks. Why? Why? I’d be glad if anyone could explain this to me. You have to line up in another stall for food, then another line again for the drinks. Everyone was also buying the sugarcane drink. I bought ten for everyone and they didn’t like it as much as I did. They all ended up buying sodas and I ended up drinking three glasses of the sugarcane juice!

These photos remind me to never ever give up on my dreams. I’ve always knew that I wasn’t born to sit in one place. I may be miles away from the real Hollywood, but someday I’ll step foot on it one way or another.

This baby right here was closed due to safety inspections (?). I was also looking forward riding this. I know I get so scared riding roller coasters, but once I get the hang of it, my fear just disappears and I crave for more. I think it’s also a big part of my personality. I’m a scaredy cat, but once I find myself in a situation I can’t get out of, I’d take the plunge without hesitations.

After the fireworks, we decided to have a quick dinner in the Vivo City foodcourt which was almost closing that time. Then we decided to drop by at the Marina Bay for the fountain show. We walked to and fro finding the exit to the Marina Bay mall. We didn’t know the exit was upstairs meaning it was an underground mall. Anyway, when we arrived at the fountain show, it was done and we were really really really tired!

Blurry blurry blurry!

We were so dismayed about the fountain show so I told them that we visit the Botanic Garden since it’s near the Marina Bay. I mean, you can’t go home without seeing the famous garden, right? I’m sorry, I just can’t. We were so tired so the thought of walking was not very pleasant, but my cousin’s husband said, “Since we’re here already, let’s just see it”. That was the go signal. We walked from the Marina Bay Sands to the Botanic Gardens, it was a long walk but it was definitely worth it.

I took off my shoes and rested my feet. We sat down for an hour – in silence and stared in wonder.

The Botanic Garden reminds me of the movie Avatar. I can’t help but be amazed. It was so unreal! The walk to and fro was really tiring, but how many times are we going to be in Singapore anyway?

Took this shot while passing on a bridge from Marina Bay to the Botanic Gardens. I think this photo best describes the tourist spots that make Singapore famous. It’s the Singapore Flyer and the Botanic Garden in one photo!

We took a cab from Marina Bay Sands back to our hotel in Middle Rd. I think it caused us 15SGD but we had no energy to walk back to the train station. Besides, it was getting late and the train stations were probably closed already.

Their cabs have different rates based on the the type of car and the time range.

Another tiring but very fulfilling day! And that night, I just realized that I didn’t have the same flight as my cousins back to the Philippines! I was a day ahead! Darn. So instead of a four-day trip, mine was reduced to three. I started packing that night and was only able to sleep at around 3AM.

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Kim is a programmer at day and a wannabe-writer and traveler whenever she has free time. She dreams of quitting her job and wander in places around the world working as a part-timer in various decent jobs.